Alwaght-45 prisoners and hundreds of members of Albu Nimr tribe have been killed by ISIS terrorists. They carried out public executions of tribesmen in Hit. Earlier in the week, many others had been killed
According to CNN, they were taken from their homes, some pulled from their beds, in the middle of the night. They were fathers, brothers and sons, members of the America-allied Albu Nimr tribe -- the Sunni clan considered among the last holdouts against ISIS terrorist group in Iraq's western desert.
About 50 members of the tribe were abducted in Hit in Anbar province, west of Baghdad, during the early morning hours on Saturday, Sheikh Nabil Al-Ga'oud, a tribal leader, told CNN.
Their fate is unknown. But, Al-Ga'oud and others believe they are likely dead, the latest casualties of ISIS terrorists who have killed hundreds of members of the tribe in mass executions in recent days.
The Albu Nimr, who number in the tens of thousands, are ready to fight to take back Hit, Al-Ga'oud said. The city was seized last month by ISIS terrorists after weeks of fighting the tribesmen.
Hit and neighboring Ramadi were holdouts in the Sunni-dominated Anbar province after ISIS terrorist group swept in from Syria, taking town after town in the western province. Albu Nimr tribesmen were among those who fought them until they began running of out weapons and supplies.
Tribal leader says fighters ready to strike ISIS terrorists. Albu Nimr has a strong force ready to attack Hit, but they need to get the final OKs from the government and also try to coordinate with the Americans, Al-Ga'oud said.
Anbar was the scene of a bloody insurgency during the America-led war in Iraq until an uprising by Sunni tribes, including Albu Nimr, in 2006 took on al Qaeda in Iraq -- the forerunner to ISIS terrorist group, also known as ISIL terrorist group.
America officials maintain that Iraqi support for Sunni tribes going on the offensive against ISIS terrorists will be a necessary part in the effort to defeat the militants, who refer to themselves as the Islamic State.
In a news conference this week, Gen. Martin Dempsey, the Joint Chiefs of Staff chairperson, signaled the possibility of the new role when he said the Iraqi government had not yet requested America military support in efforts to defend its nation that has suffered mass executions at the hands of ISIS terrorists.
The abduction and suspected killings follow reports this week of public executions and the discovery of mass graves containing the bodies of tribesmen killed by ISIS terrorists. The bodies of an estimated 200 members of Albu Nimr were found in a mass grave just outside Hit, a senior Iraqi security official told CNN. The tribesmen were captured by ISIS terrorists after it took control of the area, the official said.
Another 48 tribesmen were marched through the streets of Hit before they were publicly executed, the official said. And a mass grave was found in nearby Ramadi, according to Iraqi media accounts. Video of those executions had been uploaded to the Internet.
